THE well written ‘Letter of the week’ by Sibusiso Mbhele and other reports regarding the lack of discipline at schools in the ZO of 8 November refers.
My first day at school was in 1946 in Pretoria. The world was struggling to recover from the devastation caused by the Second World War.
We were poor, we had no family car, my late father pedalled to work on his bicycle, my mother walked to the English primary school where she taught and my two sisters, younger brother and I all walked to the Afrikaans primary school every morning on bare feet, winter and summer.
Shoes were reserved for Sunday school and church.
We all had to get up early, had breakfast (mieliepap or oats) together and then everyone had to make their own sandwiches to take to school or work.
Being late for school was not an option because it meant two cuts with a cane; on a Highveld winter morning it was an extremely unpleasant experience.
Bunking school or not doing your homework never entered my mind because it was met with the same punishment, but administered by the school Principal who was an expert at swinging his cane to inflict maximum pain.
Talking back to a teacher was an almost unheard of offence and assaulting a teacher would have meant immediate expulsion and transfer to a reformatory school.
After matric with three distinctions, I spent a year in the Air Force Gymnasium where discipline was even more severe, but without the physical abuse.
I continued further studies at a forestry college and university. My sister continued her studies Cum Laude and obtained a PhD in Mathematics.
My other two siblings both had successful careers.
Yes, discipline was harsh, but it left no mental or physical scars on our personalities. On the contrary, it taught us discipline and above all, perseverance.
How very sad that we have gone from one extreme to the other. My neighbour who is teaching at a local school tells me that she is not even allowed to point her finger at a pupil, thus they grow up with no respect for anything or anybody, not even for themselves.
The Annual Schools Survey for 2010/2011 recorded 14 340 pregnant schoolgirls in KZN alone, from as early as Grade 3 (Sunday Tribune 3 November, 2013).
These children will probably never finish school or escape from the cycle of poverty.
DANIE BOSMAN
